It is in everyone’s interests to get SEND support right, says Claire Dorer. For many pupils that means a place in an independent special school It’s rare to see media coverage on special needs provision in non-maintained and independent special schools (NMISS) without cost being mentioned. Generally this is in relation to absolute costs and…

A lack of state-funded places is forcing councils to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to send pupils to independent special schools. Councils sent up to triple the number of SEND pupils to independent special schools last year compared with six years ago, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. Councils blame the shift on a lack…

A council is reviewing the community benefit of local private schools to decide if they deserve generous discounts in business rates. It is thought to be the first time a council has taken this step and while the rates cannot currently be changed for charitable organisations, experts believe pressure could be exerted on the government…

State schools should consider emulating independent schools and “work for profit” by charging parents a “premium”, a leading headteacher has said. Sir Andrew Carter (pictured above), head of the South Farnham school Educational Trust, and chair of the independent review of initial teacher training, said the state sector might need to follow independent schools in…

Independent schools do not have a “widespread appetite” for moving into the state sector to make their education more widely available, according to the Independent Schools Council (ISC). Barnaby Lenon (pictured), chair of the ISC, said in response to a question posed by Schools Week that he currently had no evidence independent schools were interested…

Tom Hicks was thrilled when his son had the chance to play in a local under-7 football tournament. But then bureaucracy showed the red card… As a kid, there was little that got the blood stirring more than the anticipation of a sports tournament. It would start the night before: you would lay out your…

Private schools are bumping up their fees while state school funding remains flat, widening the attainment gap between the state and independent sectors, academics have claimed. Research published this week by the UCL Institute of Education, titled The labour market benefits of private schooling, has found that fees within the private sector have increased well…